Hi, I'm Marcel Venneron. And I'm Eric Green's fan. And I am Krista Simmons and look at how lucky I am this morning. We have this beautiful breakfast and two Iron Chef contenders sitting right next to me. It's not a bad day here in Beverly Hills. So we are here at the Four Seasons with Marcel Vigneron and Eric Greenspan, two Iron Chef hopefuls. And I think it's a really good thing. I'm sitting in between you guys as a buffer because things are getting pretty heated this season on the show.

Yeah, it is.

Haute Cuisine.

Let me at 'em. Let me at 'em.

Okay, so So the first episode, Eric, you were handed grasshoppers again.

God, I hate that word.

Oh, I can't imagine. Yeah. Have you ever overcome your fear of bugs after

You know, it was it was never a fear, but I gotta tell you, I mean I I I was starting to get a little bit typecast as the guy who does the grasshoppers. I mean, I was on that show. We did episode we did season two and I did I was given matzah, and then grasshoppers, and then now they just gave me grasshoppers again. So now I have matzah, grasshoppers and grasshoppers. I mean, this guy got avocado. That is too easy. It's nature's butter. That's not fair.

I know I kind of lucked out in California with avocados, the secret ingredient, like on the beach. I was like, yes. When you see the the clips of like Greene going like blep, blep, blep, blep, blep, blep, blep, blep. Grasshopper. Um, I was over there like, yes. Not an avocado. No. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do with this?

Yes. This is actually your first time on the show. You're one of two chefs who hadn't been on Iron Chef before. So do you feel like you sort of needed that advantage?

Absolutely. I mean, I'll take any advantage I can get. You know what I mean? Um, no, it's a it's a completely different animal. I mean, you can prepare all you want. Like your entire life, we've been cooking our entire lives. And you can prepare all you want, but at the same time, nothing really prepares you for like those sorts of challenges. And the only other person that hadn't been in the competition was eliminated in the first challenge. So that to me, you know, in and of itself was kind of, you know, it was uh, it was a wake-up call.

Can we just talk about the Elvis glasses for a second? Cuz I I do have those glasses. What's wrong with 'em? I think they're fabulous.

Well, you know, well, because the lights are are perfectly tinted. Uh, well, I mean every Halloween at the foundry, I dress up as Elvis and sing with the band. Uh, so I have this affinity towards the king.

Well, you know what sounds good to me is all of this beautiful food we have here from Chef Ashley. So glad you brought this. From the Four Seasons. Yeah. Um, so

Yeah, and it's whole thing. Hi everybody. How are you doing?

Ashley, great. Fantastic. Cool to see you as well.

What's up, brother?

Good. So, you know what, here at the Four Seasons, we have some great healthy options. We put the healthy options here on the right. By me. Well. And I bring the whole thing of it to. Right. But I always like to be a little bit naughty, you know what I mean? That's the Brit thing. So we have the British breakfast. I mean that delicious, the British bacon, the British banger, the black pudding, the eggs.

Black pudding.

Well done. Yeah, the real deal. Fried eggs, fried bread. And you know, I lived in Mexico. I'm very passionate about real Mexican food. So we have some Huevos Rancheros. You know, and here in LA, people just love that. And this, this, oh my gosh. If you're feeling tired, I know that you guys partied a little bit last night. So if you are feeling tired, this is going to give you an instant lift you up. This is a giant sticky bun with maple pecans made with warm butter brioche. That's gonna get you good for the day.

I live right down the street. I'm actually gonna be here. I'm I'm I'm your new regular. That's right. I'm your new regular. That's right. I'm your new regular. That's right.

He's gonna be sleeping right there.

Yeah, in about in about 10 minutes.

Enjoy the breakfast, guys.

All right. Okay, see you later. I am really excited because we've gotten to know you guys as chefs quite a bit here during this interview and, of course, on TV and in real life. Um, but I also want to ask you some questions that aren't food-related in a hard-hitting, quick-fire, rapid-response sort of format. So I want you guys to do your word associations here, right? Um, so we're gonna go with Marcel first. Death row meal.

Um, Orecchiette with broccoli rabe and Italian sausage. Okay. Um, crushed red peppers, garlic, tomato.

Ooh, I love Orecchiette. That's so good.

Good stuff. Fresh pasta. I'd do that on that one. That's my death row meal, too.

Yeah. Um, so Eric, one condiment or ingredient you just can't live without.

Mayonnaise.

Oh, I can't I hate mayonnaise. I'm sorry. That's the one thing I don't like.

You and me ain't gonna get along then. It's over between us.

What about what about aioli? Aioli? Is aioli isn't okay? I can do aioli.

because it's just mayonnaise, tomato.

Aioli. Yeah. Um, okay, both of you guys. Foodie crush. I know you're both taken, but just say you weren't.

Eric Greenspan.

Oh. Oh my goodness. Now, what about preparing a meal for any historical figure, alive or dead? Who would it be?

Gandhi. Cause I heard he was like fasting like I'm gonna be eating anything. It's gonna be really hungry. Anything is gonna taste good. This is the best meal I've ever had. But you haven't eaten in like a month.

Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth. Man, that looks like an eater. You know what I mean? Like that's he's such a he seemed like such like a talented person but such a glutton. And uh, that's those are the kind of people I like to cook for.

What about guilty pleasure food? Like a fast food or something like that that you just cannot live without but you're embarrassed by?

Double-double animal style, In-N-Out. Love it.

Yeah. Uh, uh, a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwich from McDonald's.

Oh, eggs on a roll. Yeah, they can get on a roll on New York. You can't beat that.

Oh gosh. You guys just schooled me on something.

We were in New York City together and and and I introduced you to it or did I just remind you about it?

Reminded me of it. There's nothing better than those bodega two eggs on a roll with bacon. And you can get it anywhere on any street corner. At any time. During the day.

Yeah. Well, guys, thank you so much for hanging out with us here today. It was pretty pretty cool.

Yeah, thanks for having us.

Thanks for having us. And I'm glad we get to have this lovely breakfast. We need to eat sausage now. We need to eat sausage. That needs to happen.

I'm gonna take You gotta do this move though. Oh, that's a good call. I'm gonna steal this cinnamon bun. That is all me. You guys don't get to have any. So there. Oh so good. Excellent.